EP0129002B1 - Process for producing ethyl acetate by homologation of methyl acetate - Google Patents

Process for producing ethyl acetate by homologation of methyl acetate Download PDF

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Publication number
EP0129002B1
EP0129002B1 EP84102361A EP84102361A EP0129002B1 EP 0129002 B1 EP0129002 B1 EP 0129002B1 EP 84102361 A EP84102361 A EP 84102361A EP 84102361 A EP84102361 A EP 84102361A EP 0129002 B1 EP0129002 B1 EP 0129002B1
Authority
EP
European Patent Office
Prior art keywords
compound
hard acid
methyl acetate
ethyl acetate
homologation
Prior art date
Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
Expired
Application number
EP84102361A
Other languages
German (de)
English (en)
French (fr)
Other versions
EP0129002A1 (en
Inventor
Franco Zanni
Anna Maria Raspolli
Glauco Sbrana
Giuseppe Braca
Current Assignee (The listed assignees may be inaccurate. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the list.)
Consiglio Nazionale delle Richerche CNR
Original Assignee
Consiglio Nazionale delle Richerche CNR
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Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by Consiglio Nazionale delle Richerche CNR filed Critical Consiglio Nazionale delle Richerche CNR
Priority to AT84102361T priority Critical patent/ATE23709T1/de
Publication of EP0129002A1 publication Critical patent/EP0129002A1/en
Application granted granted Critical
Publication of EP0129002B1 publication Critical patent/EP0129002B1/en
Expired legal-status Critical Current

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Classifications

    • C—CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
    • C07—ORGANIC CHEMISTRY
    • C07C—ACYCLIC OR CARBOCYCLIC COMPOUNDS
    • C07C69/00—Esters of carboxylic acids; Esters of carbonic or haloformic acids
    • C07C69/02—Esters of acyclic saturated monocarboxylic acids having the carboxyl group bound to an acyclic carbon atom or to hydrogen
    • C07C69/12—Acetic acid esters
    • C07C69/14—Acetic acid esters of monohydroxylic compounds

Definitions

  • This invention relates to a new process for producing ethyl acetate alone or in mixture with acetic acid, starting from methyl acetate or a methyl acetate-acetic acid mixture, by homologation with CO and H 2 in the presence of a Ru catalyst.
  • a previous patent (G. Braca et al.-USA patent 4,189,441 of 1980) describes a process for preparing ethyl acetate from methyl acetate and/or dimethyl ether by reaction with CO and H 2 in the presence of a catalytic system comprising a ruthenium carbonyl compound and an iodised or brominated promoter in the form of a halogen acid, an alkyl halide or an ionic inorganic halide.
  • This process has certain applicational limitations, particularly when methyl acetate is used as the starting substance, these being due essentially to low catalytic activity and limited ethyl acetate and acetic acid selectivity (max. 50 ⁇ 60% at high methyl acetate conversion).
  • An ethyl acetate production process is also known which utilises the same process but uses a more complicated catalytic system (European patent application 31784/1981) constituted by a mixed cobalt and ruthenium system in the presence of two different iodised promoters (one being an alkyl iodide and the other an ionic mineral, ammonium or phosphonium iodide).
  • reaction by-products comprise acetaldehyde, a compound which can undergo aldol condensation with the consequent formation of high-boiling products.
  • Another known patent (European patent application 31606/1981) describes a process for producing acetic acid and ethyl acetate from methyl acetate by a very costly catalytic system comprising a ruthenium compound, a compound of another group VIII metal (Rh or Pd) and an iodide or bromide of a group II metal or a transition metal, and an organic binder.
  • This costly catalytic system in reality shows low activity, and moreover provides low selectivity of ethyl acetate, which is obtained only in the molar ratio of 1:2 with respect to the acetic acid.
  • the object of the present invention is to propose a new process for the homologation of methyl acetate to ethyl acetate which enables either ethyl acetate to be obtained alone or mixtures of ethyl acetate and acetic acid to be obtained with a high acetate content, using methyl acetate or mixtures of methyl acetate and acetic acid as the starting substance, to produce results which are decidedly superior from all aspects to those obtainable with processes of the known art.
  • the new process for preparing ethyl acetate consists essentially of reacting the methyl acetate, either alone or in solution with acetic acid, with carbon monoxide and hydrogen at a temperature of between 150 and 250°C and a pressure of between 100 and 200 atm., in the presence of a ruthenium catalyst and an acid promoter of hard acid type, in accordance with the definition and classification given by V. B. Jensen in "The Lewis acid-base definitions: a status report", Chem. Rev. 78, 1 (1978).
  • the promoters used according to the present invention pertain essentially to the following classes of compound:
  • an iodised compound essentially in the form of an alkyl iodide or an inorganic iodide must be added to the system.
  • potassium iodide has been found particularly interesting, as it enables a higher reaction rate and improved selectivity to be obtained, while at the same time making the reaction environment less corrosive.
  • the Ru compounds which can be used in the catalytic system according to the present invention are carbonyl derivatives of Ru, such as Ru 3 (CO) 12 , Ru(CO) 4 l 2 , Ru(CO) 3 Cl 2 and the like, or Ru compounds which under the reaction conditions form Ru carbonyls, such as Ru-acetylacetonate, Ru salts of carboxylic acids, sodium hexachlororuthenate, ruthenium triiodide and the like.
  • the components of the catalytic system are mixed in the following molar ratios:
  • the crown ether or the open-chain polyether is added in a molar ratio of 0.5-2/1 with respect to the metal ion, and in general remains unaltered during the reaction and can be easily recycled together with the ruthenium catalyst and the metal promoter.
  • the reaction is carried out at a temperature of between 150 and 250°C, and a temperature at the lower end of the range can advantageously be used as the catalytic system is much more active than traditional ones.
  • the preferred temperature is between 180 and 200°C.
  • the CO/H 2 mixture when fed into the reaction compartment must ensure a partial CO pressure sufficient to prevent the ruthenium carbonyl derivative decomposing to metal ruthenium. In all cases, the total pressure must be at least 50 atm., and preferably 100-200 atm.
  • the H 2 /CO ratio in the gaseous reaction mixture can vary between 0.1 and 10, the preferred ratio being between 0.5 and 2.5.
  • the new process enables numerous advantages to be obtained compared with the processes of the known art.
  • the new catalytic system enables the reaction to be orientated prevalently towards the formation of ethyl acetate, so that when this is formed in mixture with acetic acid the molar ethyl acetate:acetic acid ratio generally lies between 1 and 2.
  • the new process according to the present invention can be accomplished in the manner of the other homologation processes, even starting from dimethyl ether.
  • this starting substance is used, the advantageous aspects heretofore described for methyl acetate with respect to processes of the known art are surprisingly not obtained.
  • the autoclave is then placed in a bath temperature-controlled at 200°C and is kept under agitation for 10 hours.
  • the product liquid mixture (26 g) and gaseous mixture (18.8 NI) are discharged and analysed by gas chromatography.
  • Table 1 shows other homologation tests carried out by the same operational procedure described in Example 1, but varying only the type of promoter.
  • Table 1 shows further homologation tests carried out by the same operational procedure described in Example 1, but initially adding a crown ether or an open-chain polyether (tetraethylene- glycoldimethylether, TEGDME)
  • the liquid product fraction also contained 4.1% of water.
  • the reactor was then heated to a temperature of 200°C while maintaining the pressure constant at a value of 160 ⁇ 5 atm. by feeding CO/H 2 (ratio 1/1) from a high pressure reservoir.
  • the ethyl acetate and acetic acid selectivity is always very high, and can exceed 90%.
  • the production of by-products and in particular methane and ethane which constitute the greatest loss in the process falls from about 20% to a value which can be contained at around 10% or even less.

Landscapes

  • Chemical & Material Sciences (AREA)
  • Organic Chemistry (AREA)
  • Organic Low-Molecular-Weight Compounds And Preparation Thereof (AREA)
  • Low-Molecular Organic Synthesis Reactions Using Catalysts (AREA)
  • Pharmaceuticals Containing Other Organic And Inorganic Compounds (AREA)
EP84102361A 1983-06-15 1984-03-04 Process for producing ethyl acetate by homologation of methyl acetate Expired EP0129002B1 (en)

Priority Applications (1)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
AT84102361T ATE23709T1 (de) 1983-06-15 1984-03-04 Herstellungsverfahren von aethylacetat durch homologisierung von methylacetat.

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
IT21645/83A IT1161942B (it) 1983-06-15 1983-06-15 Processo per la produzione di acetato di etile per omologazione di acetato di metile
IT2164583 1983-06-15

Publications (2)

Publication Number Publication Date
EP0129002A1 EP0129002A1 (en) 1984-12-27
EP0129002B1 true EP0129002B1 (en) 1986-11-20

Family

ID=11184783

Family Applications (1)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
EP84102361A Expired EP0129002B1 (en) 1983-06-15 1984-03-04 Process for producing ethyl acetate by homologation of methyl acetate

Country Status (6)

Country Link
US (1) US4780566A (enrdf_load_stackoverflow)
EP (1) EP0129002B1 (enrdf_load_stackoverflow)
JP (1) JPS604150A (enrdf_load_stackoverflow)
AT (1) ATE23709T1 (enrdf_load_stackoverflow)
DE (1) DE3461370D1 (enrdf_load_stackoverflow)
IT (1) IT1161942B (enrdf_load_stackoverflow)

Families Citing this family (3)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
GB2208480A (en) * 1987-08-03 1989-04-05 Shell Int Research Process for carbonylation of alkenes to ketones
US5770761A (en) * 1996-11-08 1998-06-23 Chinese Petroleum Corporation Process for ethyl acetate production
US6399812B1 (en) 2000-04-27 2002-06-04 Tsoung Y. Yan Production of aliphatic esters

Family Cites Families (4)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
NL7708158A (nl) * 1976-07-28 1978-01-31 Montedison Spa Werkwijze ter bereiding van esters.
DE3064657D1 (en) * 1979-12-21 1983-09-29 Shell Int Research Process for the co-production of carboxylic acids and carboxylic acid esters
US4371724A (en) * 1981-01-08 1983-02-01 Texaco Inc. Ethanol synthesis by homologation of methanol
IT1144698B (it) * 1981-04-06 1986-10-29 Giuseppe Braca Processo di produzione all'acetato di etile mediante omologazione dell'acetato di metile

Also Published As

Publication number Publication date
JPS604150A (ja) 1985-01-10
IT1161942B (it) 1987-03-18
ATE23709T1 (de) 1986-12-15
EP0129002A1 (en) 1984-12-27
JPH0316939B2 (enrdf_load_stackoverflow) 1991-03-06
DE3461370D1 (en) 1987-01-08
US4780566A (en) 1988-10-25
IT8321645A0 (it) 1983-06-15

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